This invention relates generally to storage and display devices for use in storing and merchandising shelved products and, more particularly, to a display unit which can be arranged to achieve almost any desired number of vertically disposed shelf members and which can likewise be horizontally arranged to achieve substantially any side-by-side configuration.
In our modern culture, the diversity and complexity of consumer goods have become extensive, and this increased diversity and complexity have created a need for more versatile display units which permit the addition and removal of shelves and the joining of adjacent display units. Known display units for storing and merchandising multiple products utilize upright support members to vertically stack shelves in spaced relationships one above the other, and a wide variety of connection mechanisms are used to attach the shelves to the upright members. Some connection mechanisms, such as those disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,930,643, which is hereby fully incorporated herein by reference, permit adjacent units to be arranged and joined in a multitude of desired side-by-side modular configurations. While the connection mechanisms of U.S. Pat. No. 4,930,643 permit side-by-side arrangement of display units, these connection mechanisms require the production of unique connection members in addition to the standard elongated support members associated with a particular display unit, which connection members are complex and costly to manufacture. Further, the unique connection members are not used unless adjacent units are, in fact, joined together in a particular side-by-side configuration. Thus, the cost of manufacturing the unique connection members may be wasted if two units are not horizontally joined together. There is therefore a need for a display unit which is attachable to adjacent display units using standard support members thereby reducing cost and complexity.
There is, therefore, provided in the practice of the present invention a novel display unit which uses standard upright support members for joining both vertically spaced shelf members and horizontally arranged side-by-side shelf members. In one embodiment of the present invention, each shelf member broadly includes a floor portion, a plurality of upper full sockets, a plurality of lower full sockets, and a plurality of upper and lower partial sockets, each partial socket configured to receive a portion of one end portion of a standard elongated support member or other attachment member for attaching one shelf member to an adjacent shelf member having similar upper and lower partial sockets associated therewith. In another embodiment, the upper and lower full and partial sockets may be eliminated and each shelf member may simply include a plurality of upper and lower split sockets as will be hereinafter explained.
The partial sockets of the present invention are each configured to receive a portion of one end of an elongated support member that is normally used with the display unit, the elongated support member serving as the attachment member. Each of the partial sockets includes an outer wall and an inner wall spaced from the outer wall, the inner and outer walls forming an insert and defining a channel for receiving a portion of the elongated support member. The channel is preferably U-shaped and opens at the perimeter edge and top or bottom of the shelf member side wall. Each shelf member may also optionally include mating securement tabs and slots. The securement tabs and slots are preferably T-shaped and further secure the connection between adjacent shelf members. Alternatively, tapered keeper members may also be used to further secure adjacent shelf members. The full sockets, partial sockets, securement tabs, and securement slots are preferably all integrally formed with the shelf members.
It is further contemplated in the practice of the present invention that a plurality of the described shelf members are interconnected to form a display unit according to the teachings of the present invention. A plurality of substantially identical elongated support members are provided to connect the shelf members of discrete display units in vertically spaced arrangements and to connect adjacent shelf members in a multiplicity of side-by-side modular configurations. The support members include hollow end portions to receive the inserts of the partial sockets.
It is still further contemplated in the practice of the present invention that a plurality of the described shelf members and a plurality of the described support members are used in a method of assembling the display unit according to one embodiment of the present invention. For example, two bottom shelf members are aligned horizontally in substantially the same plane in a side-by-side relationship with the upper partial sockets on one side wall of each shelf member being positioned in an aligned and abutting relationship with each other. Elongated support members are then attached to the aligned pairs of the upper partial sockets and to the outer full sockets associated with the horizontally arranged shelf members. Two top shelf members are then attached to the upper ends of the elongated support members in a stacked vertically spaced relationship relative to the two bottom shelf members.
To attach another horizontally arranged shelf member or previously assembled display unit to the exemplary unit described above, the elongated support members are detached from the full sockets along a common edge adjacent the third display unit or other shelf member. The third display unit or other horizontally arranged shelf member is then aligned in abutting relationship with the existing unit to form pairs of upper and lower partial sockets, and the detached elongated support members are then reattached to the aligned pairs of partial sockets associated with the adjacent common edge portions of the horizontally arranged units. Additional support members are then attached to the outer full sockets of the third display unit or other horizontally arranged shelf member.